Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board seems to have legalised encroachment of the Housing Board Flats by gazetted officers serving in the same department, senior police officers and well connected politicians.

Ironically, the ‘babus’ occupying the office of the Deputy General Manager Unit 1 located in the shopping complex in Sector 2 have been encouraging rampant encroachment in lieu of some consideration and deliberately keeping their eyes shut for a long time instead of taking any strong action against the wilful defaulters.

Large scale conversion of residential houses in to commercial establishments and construction of basement in commercial establishments without seeking approval of the JK housing board is also going on rampantly in Channi-Himmat causing lot of hardships to common residents in the area.

A deep rooted nexus between the Khilafwarzi wing of the JK Housing board and the defaulters is flourishing under the watchful eyes of the senior Congress Minister Raman Bhalla.

In many cases it has been seen even the corrupt officers have been found misleading the Minister in-charge and the same is hurting the larger than life image of the popular Minister.

After assuming the charge of the Housing department Bhalla had taken keen interest in addressing the issues of residents of the housing colony and announced several projects including beautification of Green Belt Park ,14.5 crore project undertaken by the ERA to construct nallah, lanes and dranins, community centre etc..

Bhalla also made efforts to streamline the working of the department but it appears the vested interest is denting his image in the election year.

Repeated reminders and written complaints submitted in the office of the Managing Director JK Housing Board Ram Pal, have also failed to yield any fruitful result.

A quick visit to Pocket 6 of SFS Housing Board flats located close to the residence of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and former DGP Kuldeep Khuda in sector 2 of Channi Himmat would reveal how senior officers of the JK Housing board, have raised concrete structures but no action has followed against the blue eyed officer.

In the same premises others including a officer serving in the CID wing of the state police and former Congress MLA too have raised unauthorised structures on rooftops of the housing board flats but they too have not been served notices to remove the unauthorised construction.JK Housing Board encroachment-Channi Himmat

All these unauthorised concrete structures have been allegedly built in clear violation of the norms laid down by the JK Housing Board but not even once the Khilafwarzi wing of the JK Housing Board has ever spared enough time from their busy schedule to pay a visit and serve them the notice to clear the encroachments.

Recently when a senior citizen started finishing work in his flat located in the same premises Khilafwarzi wing of the JK Housing board department made deliberate efforts to harass the senior citizen and his family by dragging them to the police station.

The senior citizen visited the office of the DGM and he personally inspected the alleged violations on the spot but he too failed to take concrete action against the well connected VVIP’s. JK Housing Board encroachment-Channi Himmat

Meanwhile, timely intervention of the senior police officers resolved the situation but officers of the JK Housing Board made mockery of the law by even misleading the police officers on duty. A senior police officer dealing with the matter not only said sorry to the senior citizen but also admitted the fact the JK housing board authorities misled them and confusion was created due to which the senior citizen had to suffer.

A fresh notice was also served to the senior citizen by the DGM Housing Board Division 1 warning him to remove the aluminium frame else strict action will follow. The same team of the Khilafwarzi wing of the JK Housing board failed to reply to the repeated querries of the senior citizen why similar notices were not being served to the officers of the JK Housing board, police officers and politicians whose concrete structures are standing tall and visible to the naked eye.